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You
mentioned a couple of times that you've got a young daughter, to
whom you obviously felt a huge amount of responsibility....
Yeah,
I was determined not to get killed. I wasn't gonna take any chances,
which is actually quite paralysing.
When
you decide "I really mustn't get killed" there's not very
much you can do. Well there is, but not in a situation like that.
There's
all kinds of things that activists can do where you're not in a
conflict situation, where you can help out at playgroups and schools…
But
even if you go and help some farmers with the harvest, some settlers
will come out and beat you up and then the army will come and join
in.
So
it's usually quite dangerous. But there are people who go just to
work in clinics and schools, who aren't quite in the line of fire.
The
International Solidarity Movement. Do they exist to protest?
It
came out of a group of Palestinians and Israelis, one of the organisers
is an Israeli Ramallah married to a Palestinian.
And
two Americans who are a couple, one Jewish, one Palestinian…
and various other people.
They
realised violence was not actually gonna solve this and decided
to try and promote some of the non violent tactics that were used
in the first intifada, kind of passive resistance.
I was determined not to get killed. I wasn't gonna take any
chances, which is actually quite paralysing.  |
| Jeremy
Hardy on staying alive |
And
that in order for that to be safe for Palestinians to do they were
going to have to get internationals in to act as observers and afford
a degree of protection.
So
there's all kinds of activities that they do. But the main principle
of it is non-violent protest.
There's
not to be any aggression from ISM activists.
I think
somebody last year tried to throw a punch at a soldier and got sent
home - for their own protection more than anything else. Cos y'know
it's not like Aldershot, you can't just go and lamp them one.
Can
you do that in Aldershot?
Not
really. The thing is they don't take their guns into the pub - they'll
kill you with a billiard cue but they're not allowed to take their
guns into pubs and clubs in Aldershot.
Do
the Israeli army recognise ISM?
Er,
yeah!
I
mean, will they not run over you because of who you are?
No,
they have killed people now. They killed Rachel Curry, they shot
an American, Brian Avery, an American who is having his face reconstructed.
A photographer
is still in a coma in this country - he was shot in the head. Israeli
soldiers very rarely get into trouble for anything like that.
Essentially
people would know Jeremy Hardy as a comedian. Same with people like
Mark Thomas, same with Rob Newman.
And
yet we keep seeing you at Menwith Hill, or talking about ISM, or
we hear your stand-up which is very politically motivated. Do you
feel you're the last of a breed of political comedian?
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| Just
for laughs: Hardy and news quiz colleague Simon Hoggart. |
No,
I think we seem to have become a little establishment of our own.
I think
we're actually crossing over into a semi-journalistic role in a
way, rather than it being matter of just having political content
in our act.
I mean
Mark Thomas certainly is, he's moved very much into Michael Moore
sort of territory.
Robert
is writing a lot and doing kind of new stuff. The difficulty is
trying to remember that you're an entertainer, and keep that balance.
That's
the question I wanted to come to. Which is most important to you?
That's
a tricky one. Depends from day to day, depends who I'm trying to
make like me.
Well
ultimately World Peace is the aim isn't it? But at the end of the
day as a comedian do you want to just her the laughs?
Well
yeah there's a big part of me. I mean I love doing I'm Sorry I Haven't
a Clue on Radio 4. It's my favourite thing to do because it's just
daft, it's not about the news, it's not about anything.
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...it's not about the Middle East or the news or sexed up dossiers
and I'm really looking forward to that |
| Jeremy
Hardy on his latest project |
You
can sometimes sneak a political joke in, which is sometimes the
most effective place for a political joke - when it's not expected.
It's
just the most fun thing to do. I'm writing a movie script about
vampires with an animator called Michael Booth.
I'm
really looking forward to it because it's not about the Middle East
or the news or sexed up dossiers and I'm really looking forward
to that.
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